Against the Giants: Liberation of Geoff

The Shifting Tower

Session 59

After spending a week buying supplies, recuperating, and gathering rumours, Hurin is escorted back to his people in the Dim Forest. The remnants of the elves have temporarily taken up residence in the abandoned town of Hocholve, and there the party are welcomed and honoured as heroes; they are also asked to further aid the elves. Hurin wants to reclaim the elven city of Derelion, which was ravaged by an gigantic Shadow Dragon and a host of Shadows that came out of a portal to the Realm of Shadow. His sages have discovered the means to seal the portal, an act they hope will banish– or at least weaken– the monsters. Deep within the forest a mage once lived, in a tower where he experimented with arcane & planar magic. Long dead, the sages believe the key to sealing the portal lies inside the tower. Hurin asks the party to enter the tower, find whatever it is the sages believe is inside, and return. The only problem is that the tower only appears during the light of the full moon (either one), and remains only during the night, for three days. The party agrees, and after waiting for the next full moon, they are guided to the tower as the moon rises, by the elf Fingolfin, who goes with them.

11th Coldeven, Spring, CY 592

A squat, three-storey sandstone tower sits with a ring of grey monoliths, a garden within the fence. After Corvin scouts the perimeter, finding no other way inside except the gate at the front, they decide to use their Flying Carpet to fly over the monoliths. Beyond lies a garden with oak trees and a junk yard. As they land and approach the tower, walking towards the trees, a swarm of Stirges flies out of them, and attack!

In a matter of a mere two rounds, 15 Stirges are wiped out: Sidni, Fingolfin and Mim hack one of the fluttering blood-suckers from the air, but one latches onto Sidni. He smashes it with the butt of his spear, then skewers another as it darts towards him. Corvin wounds one, leaving it to Fingolfin to slay it, while Ungrid and Halmary cleave their way through the ret of them. They move on to the junk yard, and Corvin starts searching for anything useful– he finds a copper and silver rod topped by a green crystal– but as he rummages, some of the junk starts slamming together and builds a giant humanoid junk-golem, that stomps over, sweeping its arms to smash the intruders: between Corvin, Halmary, Xellos and Mim, the golem falls to pieces; proving once again that the party are rather tough.

Into the tower they go, discovering a robed man who chatters away and pretends to be lost, but runs off onto a teleporter pad; they follow him, upstairs to where a demonic boar-man is discovered in a laboratory. A fight ensues, with the demon boar charming Mim, who attacks but is disable when Fingolfin hits him with a levitation spell, sending him to the ceiling. The robed man, trying to hide, is hit by a poisoned arrow from Corvin’s bow, which not only wounds him dearly but paralyses him too. Xellos, Ungrid and Halmary wade into the demon, and it falls to their combined attack.

Then, as the fight ends, another demon boar– this time a bloated woman– appears from another pad, from the upper level of the tower and attacks. Sidni wounds her when he throws her spear, and Xellos, Ungrid and Corvin wound her further, sending her fleeing upstairs. While Halmary ties up the robed man, the others follow the demon and corner her in a library; Corvin sticks her with an arrow, then Ungrid lops off her head.